Glorious moms of the animal kingdom

By Carl Safina

Updated 8:37 AM ET, Fri May 8, 2015

Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds.

Photos:Family life of elephants and killer whales

Family life of elephants and killer whales – The basic unit of elephant life and child-rearing is a female-led family. Male elephants wander and provide no child care. Families usually remain together for life. The oldest female, or matriarch, is the family's decision-maker and repository of survival knowledge. Here, several families who know each other well are traveling together in Amboseli National Park, Kenya. Families pace travel to their youngest babies; no child gets left behind.

Hide Caption

1 of 7

Photos:Family life of elephants and killer whales

Family life of elephants and killer whales – Part of the Pacific Northwest's killer whale L-pod group, with tall-finned 36-year-old male L-41 and 42-year-old L-22 at his left side, and two other pod-members, in Haro Strait, Washington.

Hide Caption

2 of 7

Photos:Family life of elephants and killer whales

Family life of elephants and killer whales – Baby elephant Petula gets assistance from two family members as they help the newborn stand for the first time in Amboseli National Park.

Hide Caption

3 of 7

Photos:Family life of elephants and killer whales

Family life of elephants and killer whales – Killer whale family bonds remain strong and lifelong. In no other creature do all children — male and female — stay with their mother for the duration of their life.

Hide Caption

4 of 7

Photos:Family life of elephants and killer whales

Family life of elephants and killer whales – Though free to play and almost never disciplined, elephant babies are always near mom, under her watchful eye. Mud makes baby elephants happy.

Hide Caption

5 of 7

Photos:Family life of elephants and killer whales

Family life of elephants and killer whales – Male L-84 with a salmon in waters of Washington. Food sharing by post-menopausal killer whale mothers appears crucial to survival of their adult children, especially males, whose huge size and enormous fins greatly increase their food needs.

Hide Caption

6 of 7

Photos:Family life of elephants and killer whales

Family life of elephants and killer whales – Trunks perform a combination handshake, hug and kiss as sisters greet in Amboseli National Park.

Hide Caption

7 of 7

Story highlights

Carl Safina: Motherhood is a greater enterprise on Earth than we often realize in the pageantry of life

In the animal kingdom, especially among elephants and whales, the mothers are nothing short of amazing

Carl Safina holds the Endowed Chair for Nature and Humanity at Stony Brook University, where he runs The Safina Center. This piece is adapted from his upcoming book, "Beyond Words; What Animals Think and Feel," which will be published by Henry Holt Co. in July. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN)Four mother elephants are keeping their rotund babies in the shade of their bodies as they lead them across a sweet-smelling grassland under an already-hot early equatorial sun. Striding with deliberate purpose as though keeping an appointment, the mothers are nodding toward a wide wet marsh. They stop at water's edge; it's difficult to nurse while belly-deep in marsh sedges and water, so before plunging in for the morning, they fill up their youngsters. Who knew? The mothers knew.

Carl Safina

I'm in a vehicle with researchers Katito Saiyalel and Vicki Fishlock of the nonprofit Amboseli Trust in Amboseli National Park, Kenya. An elephant named Tecla, walking just a few yards ahead to our right, suddenly turns, trumpets and generally objects to us. To our left, a young elephant wheels and screams. It seems we have separated this mother from her baby. But another female, her two breasts full of milk, runs in, cutting just in front of us. She is actually the mother. Tecla was communicating, basically, 'The humans are getting between you and your baby; come and do something.' Mother rejoins baby, restoring order. All proceed.

Behold the mothers of others.

When the vervet monkeys around camp hear an infant's distress call, they instantly look to the infant's mother. They understand precisely who is important to whom.

When a free-living Atlantic spotted dolphin named Luna got separated from her days-old infant in murky water in the presence of a large tiger shark, research scientist Denise Herzing, founder of the Wild Dolphin Project, wrote, "I had never heard a mother more vocally distressed." These mothers know exactly who they are.

Read More

A senior female elephant, her sisters, their adult daughters, and all their children live together as a family. The family is the foundation for shared infant care and child-rearing. Usually the oldest female serves as prime holder of living history and knowledge.

This über-mom, or matriarch, manages decisions about where the family will go, when, and for how long. She's the family's rallying point and chief protector. And her personality — calm, nervous, firm, indecisive, bold — sets the whole family's tone. (Adolescent males leave families, consorting with other males, sometimes wandering.) For months the mother keeps her infant in range of her touch, often in physical contact. She frequently makes soft, humming sounds to her infant, saying, in effect, "Here I am; I'm right here."

These babies we're watching are fat, as if overindulged. In elephants as in humans -- experience matters. A teenager is more likely to get into difficulties than a 40-year-old. Fishlock emphasizes, "Older elephants are fantastic mothers. They know what's going on, and they're superchill."

Morning heat begins hurrying the elephants into the quenching wetland. But matriarchs pace travel to the youngest. No child gets left behind.

In 1990 in Kenya's Amboseli National Park, the elephant Echo gave birth to a baby who could not straighten his forelegs, could barely nurse. He shuffled painfully slowly on his wrists, frequently collapsing. Officials discussed shortening his misery.

For three days as the exhausted infant hobbled along, Echo slowed the family's pace to his disabilities, continually turning to watch the little one's progress, waiting as he caught up from behind, patiently raising him when he fell.

Photos:African elephants on the verge of extinction

The majestic African elephants are in trouble as wildlife experts say poachers are slaughtering as many as 25,000 of them a year because of their ivory tusks. If things don't change soon the African elephant could be extinct within decades, experts warn.

Hide Caption

1 of 6

Photos:African elephants on the verge of extinction

Actress Kristin Davis and Paula Kahumbu attend the U.S. Ivory Crush at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge on November 14, 2013 in Commerce City, Colorado.

Hide Caption

2 of 6

Photos:African elephants on the verge of extinction

Poaching has surged in recent years with gangs killing elephants in record numbers to feed the ever increasing demand for ivory.

Hide Caption

3 of 6

Photos:African elephants on the verge of extinction

Most of the ivory that's smuggled out of Africa ends up in Asia.

Hide Caption

4 of 6

Photos:African elephants on the verge of extinction

Once smuggled out of Africa, the ivory is sculpted into jewelry or art pieces and collected by the rich.

Hide Caption

5 of 6

Photos:African elephants on the verge of extinction

Analysts say it is an $8-10 billion a year international industry.

Hide Caption

6 of 6

On the third day, he leaned back until he could put his bent front soles on the ground, then, wrote researcher Cynthia Moss, "carefully and ever so slowly he transferred his weight back towards the front end of his body and straightened all four legs." He never looked back. His family's steadfastness — which in humans we might call faith — had saved him.

Half a planet over, in a different realm, I visit another mammal living in the most maternally oriented society on Earth: the Pacific Northwest's fish-eating killer whales.

In Ken Balcomb's Center for Whale Research boat, I'm meeting the L-pod; Ken knows them all on sight. L-25, a female, is now more than 85 years old. This high-finned adult male with the nick halfway up his dorsal's leading edge is L-41; he's 36 years old.

Like elephants, the basic social unit is a senior matriarch leading her children and grandchildren. And though adolescent male elephants leave their family; male killer whales stay in their birth family for their entire life. (Males mate when socializing with other families, then return to mama's side.) Mother-child bonds remain strong, lifelong. In no other creature do all children — daughters and sons — stay with their mother all her life.

As with elephants, a killer whale matriarch has memorized the family's survival manual, maintaining knowledge of the routes and islands, of places and seasons where salmon concentrate. Her decision might relocate her family; they swim 75 miles a day.

Like humans, killer whales generally stop giving birth in their 40s and can live more than twice that long. Only human, killer whale, and short-finned pilot whale females routinely live decades after they stop breeding.

In a word: menopause. Up to a quarter of females in a killer whale group are post-reproductive. These whales are not waiting to die; they're helping their children and grandchildren survive. Short-finned pilot whales continue to produce milk for up to 15 years after their last birth.

Toothmarks on a recent J-pod newborn suggest that another killer whale actually acted as midwife, pulling the infant from its mother. Multiple female killer whales help push a newborn up for its first breath. Even in the sea, it takes a village.

Killer whale mothers are so crucial to their children's survival that when a senior killer whale female dies, her adult children start dying at high rates, especially sons. Male killer whales older than 30 when their mothers die face death rates eight times as high as males in their age group whose mothers remain alive. The extra food required by their immense size seems to make them reliant on their working mothers, who share about half their catch with their children.

The matriarch J-2 is now more than 100 years old. Her son J-1 lived to be 60, the oldest male on record.

Even if your mother isn't an elephant or a whale — you know what I mean — it takes mothers of all kinds to perpetuate the chain of being.

Motherhood is a greater, more sacred enterprise on Earth than we often realize. So let's take a moment now to reflect on motherhood writ large. Let us praise and thank our mothers and the mothers of others, for nothing less than the pageant of life.

Photos:Killer whales from above

Killer whales from above – In an exhibit of playful behavior, two killer whales nuzzle head-to-head.

Hide Caption

1 of 6

Photos:Killer whales from above

Killer whales from above – Killer whales travel in their family group for most of their lives. This family group includes a 2-year-old calf, second from top, and a young-of-the-year, middle.

Hide Caption

2 of 6

Photos:Killer whales from above

Killer whales from above – Two northern resident killer whales were photographed by a remote-controlled hexacopter from 100 feet. The whale on the left is in very poor condition and is thought to have recently perished. The whale on the right is healthy and in the prime of his life. Scientists are using the hexacopter as a cost-effective and non-intrusive method for monitoring the health of killer whales.

Hide Caption

3 of 6

Photos:Killer whales from above

Killer whales from above – A group of northern resident killer whales, photographed by an unmanned aerial vehicle from 100 feet.

Hide Caption

4 of 6

Photos:Killer whales from above

Killer whales from above – This photo offers an interesting study in comparative body condition of killer whales. The female at top appears skinny and in poor condition. The female in the middle appears healthy and well-nourished. The whale at bottom is pregnant, her body bulging aft of the rib cage.

Hide Caption

5 of 6

Photos:Killer whales from above

Killer whales from above – A group of northern resident killer whales, photographed by an unmanned aerial vehicle from 100 feet.